Projectile



PROJECTILE Filed March 28, 1941 April 12, 1949.

m u D m n E mh v mum MC HE a? 2 1n firm D l m Jw Patented Apr. 12, 1949 UNITED STATES OFFICE PROJECTILE Wiley "1. Moore, United States Army, Laverne, .0kla., Joseph SH. Church, Austin, and "Wilfr'eil'E. Th'ibodeau, Cleveland, Ohio 7 Application March 28, -1941,'-Serial No. 385,724

' i -Glaims. (01. 102-49.

(Granted under the act of March 23, 1883, as "amended April 30, 1928', 2370 '0. G. 157:)

governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to .a projectile, and. in

particular to an explosive projectile having a simplified firing means.

:In the held of small and medium arms projectiles the known complex mechanical fuses are not necessary from the standpoint of performance,

nor, in view of production requirements are they desirable.

The projectile of the invention eliminates most ordinar fuse components and mechanical movements and employs a closure member of brittle, and hence, shatterable matter which will function as a firing pin or a plurality thereof, on impact, being safe, however on setback. The invention is therefore to be distinguished from the device shown in Italian Patent No. 345,875 which shows a fuse having a flexible metallic plug, not designed to shatter, but rather to transmit percussion forces by yielding.

It is therefore, an object of this invention to produce a projectile having a simplified firing means with no mechanical movements and having a detonator closure of brittle, shatterable material which is safe in handling and under setback forces, but which will function to set off the detonator on shattering at impact.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of elements described hereinafter and pointed out in the claims forming a part of this specification.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the front portion of a projectile showing the firing components'.

Figures 2, 3 and 4 are similar views showing modifications.

Figure 5 is a plan view of a modified detonator closure member.

Figures 6, '7 and 8 are longitudinal sections of modified closure members, and

Figure 9 is a longitudinal section of a detonator capsule and closure member.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference, there is shown in Figure 1 a projectile body I with axial bores in three steps, 2, 3 and 4. Outer bore 2 accommodates an ordinary cap 5 of metal or other material to keep out dust and moisture and to protect the inner sensitive parts from accidental blows in ordinary handling. Bore 4 contains the primer or detonator .6 and above this, -.a.glass disk fl is placed, in bore 13. The outer closure .5 .may be .of very thin material so as to .ofie-r little resistance .to impact .forces, or .it may be of .sturdier dimensions and be removed prior to use. The disk .7 may be .of plastic or other material. The fragments of .the disk I will act as firing pins .tose't .oil the vdetonator but this will only .occur on impact after .firing, since they must .be ground into the. detonator vaftersha'ttering to set it off. If the .disk should shatter prior to firing, the fragments will merely move harmlessly in the bore 3, and even be safe on setback. Nevertheless, even this contingency may be guarded against by the use of a layer of plastic or other non-shattering material 8 under a glass disk 9 as shown in Figure 7. Accidental forces which might shatter the glass disk 9 will leave the plastic layer intact as a guard for the detonator. Another form of cushioning for the shatterable disk is shown as a ring of wax or plastic material l9 cricrnped about the disk H in Figure 6.

In Figure 5 is shown a shatterable disk l2 having scored lines l3 which will cause a partial shattering at setback and increase the number of effective percussion members. This partial shattering at setback can also be provided for by arching the shatterable disk as shown in the disk It in Figure 8.

In Figure 9, the detonator l5 and the superposed disk It are both contained in a capsule ll which is cr'imped over the top of the disk.

In Figure 2 is shown a projectile having only a single plug. This plug functions both as a dust cap and as a firing pin. The plug it may be a single piece of glass, plastic or other shatterable solid material or packed material such as glass wool or asbestos. As shown, the plug has a conventional firing pin l9 embedded in it, but this is merely additive, since the plug forms a plurality of percussion members when shattered, and therefore the pin may be omitted.

In Figure 3 is shown a projectile having a single glass plug 20 superposed on a primer 2!. In this type there is no space between the detonator and plug as in the modification of Figure 2. The plug, for additional safety may have an under layer of a more yielding plastic material as shown in Figure 7.

In Figure 4 is shown a projectile with a glass plug 22 and firing pin members 23 pointed toward the fuse axis. Surrounding and holding the pins is a mass of matted material 2% with an axial opening 26, such as glass Wool or asbestos. Centrifugal force will dilate the matted material and thus point the firing pins toward the primer 25.

The plug members of this invention are to be distinguished from those shown and described in Patent 2,314,891, granted on March 30, 1943 to Wiley T. Moore, in that the plugs of that application are limited to a binary composition to be rendered porous or otherwise structurally weakened by the evanescence of one component.

We claim:

1. An explosive projectile having an axial opening in the ogive, a primer in said opening and a glass plug in front of said primer, said plug constituting the sole percussion means for said primer.

2. An explosive projectile having an axial opening in the ogive, a primer in said opening and a plug in front of said primer, said plug com prising a brittle material with a scored surface, said plug constituting the sole percussion means for said primer.

3. A projectile having an axial opening in the ogive, a primer in said opening, firing means in said opening spaced forwardly of said primer, said firing means comprising a tubular plug of a material appreciably compressible under the centrifugal forces caused by the spiraling flight of the projectile, and a firing pin embedded in said plug and disposed at an angle less than 90 to the fuse axis and with its sharpened end pointed toward the said primer.

4. An explosive projectile having an axial bore opening through the nose of said projectile, a primer fixed in said bore axially spaced rearwardly from said nose, and a shatterable glass plug secured in said bore forwardly of said primer.

WILEY T. MOORE.

JOSEPH H. CHURCH. WILFRED E. THIBODEAU.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

